Even though we’re certain that pretty much any professional race car driver could get used to driving with the Halo protection system, our initial impression is that it looks very obtrusive.
Behind the wheel of this new Mercedes W09 racer is no other than Valtteri Bottas, who got to sample the car ahead of his teammate and four-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes claims that its contender for the 2018 season is its fastest F1 car it has ever created – and we have no reason to doubt them.
The subject of this video however is the visual from inside the race car’s cockpit, where Bottas’ helmet cam helps us envision what it would be like to drive the latest F1 Merc.
While we don’t see a problem with the Halo in the corners, as there’s plenty of lateral visibility, if you look straight ahead, wouldn’t your visibility be ever so slightly impeded?
Of course, the teams have probably figured all these things out during the testing phase, so we probably shouldn’t be too worried about drivers smashing into each other in a straight line. So just sit back and enjoy the view from the cockpit of one of this year’s title favorites.